Could Forest Works! provide a service matching buyers and sellers of woodland conservation properties in western York County?I ask because of what my friend Keith Davis (photo on left) has been going through trying to buy woodland in western York County. In 18 months of searching, he’s yet to find a wooded property that hasn’t been heavily logged over. “I just haven’t been able to find anything suitable,” said Davis of Limerick. “I just want something I can work on – maybe cut some firewood, take a little bit, a sustainable harvest.” Davis is a savvy buyer. He’s a former real estate broker and would be comfortable acquiring a property encumbered by a working forest conservation easement. Davis has specific criteria – 10 to 100 acres of woods with maybe some field and either a small house or a suitable building site. But he’s not picky. All he really wants is “some woods that have not been stripped.” He’s scanned countless real estate website listings and he’s physically walked “at least a dozen” of the most promising sounding properties. Some listings describe properties as having been “selectively harvested,” which Davis has learned is sometimes a code word for just the opposite. Most of the wooded properties he’s visited have been high-graded – the practice of removing all trees of any real value, which stunts the ability of the forest to recover for decades to come. “To me, [high-grading] diminishes the value of the property so substantially I wouldn’t consider buying it,” he said. Davis believes there is a need for a listing service that matches up conservation-oriented buyers and sellers of wooded properties. Such a service exist for buyers and sellers of farms through the Farm Link page on the Maine Farmland Trust website. A similar service for woodlots could be provided through the Forest Works! website. “I don’t think it would hurt anything to do that,” said Davis. Please comment. Do you think there are enough buyers and sellers to make the service worthwhile? How could it work?